Amazon says it has repeatedly warned Talk about its violent content

Amazon is asking a federal judge to let it keep Speaking offline, saying the conservative media site dismissed calls from the Amazon Web Services division that Speak controlled its violent content before and after the Capitol uprising.

The tech firm’s legal appeal on Tuesday came in response to Parler lawsuit for violation of antitrust laws and breach of contract after Amazon suspended Parler’s account, thereby banning it from the Internet.

Amazon Web Services started Speaking from its cloud services just after midnight Pacific Time Monday, with the site going offline at 4:30 a.m. ET. Amazon said it had abandoned Speak because it was not confident in the site’s ability to monitor content on its platform that promotes or incites violence.

“This case is not about suppressing speech or stifling views,” Amazon lawyers said in a court filing. “Instead, this case concerns Parler’s demonstrated reluctance and inability to remove content that threatens public safety from Amazon Web Services (‘AWS’) servers, for example by inciting and planning rape, torture and murder of designated public officials and private citizens. “

Parler’s refusal to moderate content has resulted in a “steady increase” in violent content on the network, violating Amazon’s terms of service, AWS argued.

“First, Amazon has to think that they have a strong argument here that would set a good precedent for them. And second, Amazon wants the general public – or at least the broader business community – to see its response here,” said Max Kornblith, Co-Founder and Head of Growth at FairShake, a company that helps consumers resolve disputes with service providers through the arbitration process.

He noted that Amazon’s standard customer agreement would likely have allowed them to withdraw the lawsuit from public courts, if Amazon had wanted that route.

The platform’s right-wing popularity increased after the November election and was seen as a likely way for President Donald Trump to reach his supporters after he was kicked off most mainstream media platforms after the Wednesday seat of the US Capitol. In addition to the Amazon move, Google and Apple have pulled Talking from their app stores.

In its complaint filed Monday, Parler argued that “Amazon’s decision to effectively shut down Parler’s account is apparently motivated by political animosity. It is also apparently designed to reduce competition in the microblogging service market for the benefit of Twitter, “he said.